Street decoration support bracket



Aug. 19, 1958 A. MILLER 4 STREET DECORATION SUPPORT BRACKET Filed May11, 1956 INVENTOR. AZLA/V M/LLEZ ATTOZA/ EYS United States Patent STREETDECORATION SUPPORT BRACKET Allan Miller, Rolla, N. Dak.

Application May 11, 1956, Serial No. 584,223

1 Claim. 01. 211-107 This invention relates to a bracket attachable to astreet -light pole, utility pole, or the like, for the purpose ofsupporting decorations such as Christmas decorations, flags, etc.

The custom of decorating the streets in both small towns and largecities, for Christmas and for various other holidays, is becomingincreasingly prevalent. Putting up the decorations, and removing them,has been heretofore accomplished only at relatively high expense, andhas involved the use of many workers.

The main object of the present invention, accordingly, is to provide abracket quickly attachable to a street pole, and detachable therefromwith equal facility, which bracket will be novelly shaped to support anyof various decorations, either individually or in combination, such asChristmas trees, wreaths, flags, etc. To this end, the inventionincludes a vertical or main bar connectable to a polein face-to-facecontact therewith; a laterally extending support arm projecting from thebar and terminating in an upwardly projecting socket for receiving aChristmas tree; an inclined arm of tubular formation also extending fromthe vertical support bar and adapted to receive a flag; and brace meansconnected between the arms and support bar to provide a rigid connectionof the several components to one another.

Among important objects of the invention are the following:

To provide a bracket which will, in and of itself be inconspicuous;

To form the bracket in such a manner as to permit its construction at alow cost;

To design the bracket so that it can hold any of various decorationseither individually or in any selected combination of the same;

To so form the bracket that it will be swiftly connectable in place upona conventional utility pole;

To provide novel and swiftly connectable means for securing the bracketto the pole; and

To design the bracket in such a manner as to insure to the maximumextent against its falling or shifting from its proper position upon thepole.

Other objects will appear from the following description, the claimappended thereto, and from the annexed drawing, in which like referencecharacters designate like parts throughout the several views, andwherein:

Figure 1 is an elevational view of the bracket mounted upon aconventional utility pole, a supported flag and Christmas tree beingshown in full and dotted lines respectively;

Figure 2 is an enlarged view of the bracket per se,

Patented Aug. 19, 1958 1 Figure 6 is an enlarged perspective view of thelocking device, per se, in open position; and

Figure 7 is an enlarged fragmentary ele'vational view, with parts cutaway and, in section, showing the locking device in closed position.

Illustrated in Figure 1 is a conventional utility pole 10, having at itsupper end the usual finial, below which there is mounted a loop 16 fromwhich extends an arm 18 supporting the conventional light assemblygenerally designated at 14, said light assembly including a globe 20.

The bracket 22 constituting the invention includes a support bar 24 ofstraight formation, having a V-shaped cross section. Bar 24 is, adaptedto be disposed in faceto-face contact with the pole 10, with itslongitudinal edges bearing tightly against the surface of the pole.Welded or otherwise fixedly secured to the side walls of bar 24'adjacent the opposite ends thereof, are plates 36 formed with sharplypointed prongs 38 adapted to embed themselves in the surface of a woodenutility pole. the pole is of steel, there would be provided in the bar,instead of the prongs, a channel member of rubber or othersoft,'resilient material which would compress when the bar is drawntightly against the pole surface to firmly anchor the bar in place. Thisis thought sufliciently obvious as not to require special illustration.

- Welded to the lower end portion of bar 24 and extending horizontallyfrom the bar is a lower support arm 26, welded at its outer end to anupwardly projecting, vertical socket 28 adapted to receive the trunk ofva Christmas tree T.

Welded to arm 26 and socket 28 at the juncture therebetween is aninclined brace rod 30, extending and welded to the intermediate portionof an oppositely inclined, elongated, tubular, upper arm 32, that iswelded at its inner end to bar 24 at the juncture between said bar andlower arm 26. Longitudinally aligned with brace rod 30 is a second bracerod 34 fixedly connected between upper support arm 32 and the upper endportion of bar 24.

Arm 32 is open at its outer end, and thus is adapted to receive the poleof a flag F.

To secure the bar to the pole 10, there is provided a chain orequivalent flexible element 40, one end of which is engaged with a hook42 of a locking device generally designated 43. The locking deviceincludes a U-shaped main member 44, to the bight portion of which hook42 is fixedly attached. Embraced by the legs of the main member are thelegs of a U-shaped clamping member 46, and pivotally connecting themembers 44, 46 are hinge pins 48 and 48'.

Positioned within the clamping member 46 adjacent the bight portion is ahook 50 which is pivotally connected to the legs of the clamping member46 adjacent the bight portion as at 50. An arcuate handle 52 is weldedto the member 46 and extends outwardly therefrom.

To secure the bracket to the pole, the chain is passed about the bar 24between brace rod 34 and arm 32. One end of the chain is engaged in hook42. The other end is engaged in hook 50, and the handlevis then used toswing member 46 from its Figure 4 position through substantially degreesto recess the same wholly within the member 44, thus to pull the chaintight and lock the clamp member.

It is desirable to provide means whereby Christmas trees, wreaths, andother decorations may be suspended from arm 26. To this end, a pluralityof eye bolts 54 are carried by arm 26, these being uniformly spacedalong the length of said arm. Selected eye bolts may be employed forconnecting thereto suspension cords and the like, carrying the wreathsand other suspended decorations.

If desired, the brackets may be left permanently upon the poles,although they can of course be swiftly removed whenever desired, andreattached with equal facility for use on special holiday occasions. Thebrackets can be used not only for Christmas decorations, but also may beemployed on various national holidays, to support flags. When thebrackets are spaced along the opposite sides of a street, at suitableintervals, and are used to support particular decorations, an attractiveoverall decorative scheme is achieved.

It is believed apparent that the invention is not necessarily confinedto the specific use or uses thereof described above, since it may beutilized for any purpose to which it may be suited. Nor is the inventionto be necessarily limited to the specific construction illustrated anddescribed, since such construction is only intended to be illustrativeof the principles of operation and the means presently devised to carryout said principles, it being considered that the invention comprehendsany minor change in construction that may be permitted within the scopeof the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

A street decoration support bracket for detachable connection to anupstanding supporting pole, comprising: a straight, vertically extendingsupport bar formed of angleiron material and adapted to extend inlongitudinally contacting relation to said supporting pole; anelongated, straight lower support arm fixedly secured at one end to andprojecting horizontally outwardly from the lower end portion of saidbar; an elongated, tubular upper arm having one end fixedly secured tothe support bar at the juncture between the support bar and the lowerarm, said upper arm extending in a position inclined from the verticalin the included angle defined between the vertical support bar and saidhorizontal arm, the upper arm having an open upper end for extension ofa supported, elongated decoration support member removably into theupper arm in position extending in longitudinal alignment with andoutwardly from said upper arm along its opposite longitudinal edges; afirst brace rod fixedly connected between the other end of the lower armand the upper arm, the connection of said first brace rod to the upperarm being spaced a substantial distance longitudinally of the upper armfrom said one end of the upper arm; a second brace rod alignedlongitudinally with the first brace rod and fixedly connected betweenthe upper end portion of said support bar and said upper arm, theconnections of said brace rods to said upper arm being disposeddiametrically opposite one another upon the upper arm; and a flexibleelement engaged with the support bar and adapted to be looped about saidsupporting pole, said second brace rod, the upper arm, and the supportbar forming an opening bounded at one side by the support bar, saidflexible element extending through said opening, the second brace rodand the upper arm intersecting the support bar above and below,respectively, the flexible element to limit movement of the flexibleelement longitudinally of the support bar in opposite directions theformation of the support bar from angle-iron material imparting aV-shaped cross sectional configuraticn thereto with the side portions ofthe support bar converging in a direction toward the upper and lowerarms when the support bar is viewed in cross section, the respectivearms being fixedly connected to the support bar at the apex part of theV defined by the bar when seen in cross section, the support barincluding plates welded to the respective side portions, said platesbeing formed wtih prongs adapted to be embedded in the surface of saidsupporting pole, said prongs being located along the respectivelongitudinal edges of the support bar.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,053,255 Ward Feb. 18, 1913' 1,342,626 Frank June 8, 1920 1,358,277Bochard Nov. 9, 1920 1,575,614 Blaw Mar. 9, 1926 1,653,083 Blaw Dec.,20,1927 1,716,530 Oliver June 11, 1929 1,893,585 Hogan Jan. 10, 19331,968,273 Wagner July 31, 1934 2,201,138 Hyde May 21, 1940 2,443,008Kraeft et al June 8, 1948 2,462,442 Wallace Feb. 22, 1949 2,499,753Hubbard Mar. 7, 1950 2,738,077 Invertsen Mar. 13, 1956

